


launching fireworks.

by ansutazu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Summer, i got emo in the end but it's not a sad ending i promise i'm just emotional abt keichi always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 13:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11760585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ansutazu/pseuds/ansutazu
Summary: "when i said 'together'...that was actually a confession." // summer vacation is reaching its end, and eichi and keito spend it together. keichi one-shot.





	launching fireworks.

**Author's Note:**

> me: references a kenshi yonezu song in fic but very lowkey  
> me, to myself: haha....how clever..............i'm probably the only one that thinks that, huh.
> 
> my main inspiration for this fic came from daoko and kenshi yonezu's new song which,, i don't know the english title for it yet but it's 打上花火!! it's got that nostalgic and bittersweet feel to it so i...naturally thought of keichi......aaah i feel like this ends really cliche and not that good but this was partly self-indulgent keichis in the first place i'm crying in the inside

There was absolutely no reason for the two of them to be out so late, the moon hanging dimly above their heads in a lazy full circle that casts feeble beams of yellow light down at the temple nestled below, the temple burrowed in trees and bushes and lush nature from the back of the structure. The night sky’s blanket is sprinkled with stars that glimmer brightly, mixed with the fireflies that buzz around in green hues that differ from the greenery that surrounds them.

There was absolutely no reason for the two of them to be out so late, especially in the backyard of that all-too familiar Buddhist temple, and _especially_ considering the fact that the temperature drops as observed by summer nights, a detrimental circumstance for the blonde smiling happily as he lights the candle the temple’s son had brought out begrudgingly.

He does this with practiced ease — many years spent running around the temple (much to the older brother’s dismay, which they’ve come to learn as they grew older) and learning of traditions passed down from generation after generation made the simple yet elegant act of lighting a candle something of second nature to him, and he blows out the match he’d struck as soon as the flame flickers confidently. Wax begins to pool and wax begins to spill; blue eyes watch attentively as those small drops drip, drip from the side and onto the ground, and he leans back with his hand behind him to keep him up and sitting, smile morphing into something more laced with self-satisfaction.

The temple’s backyard was filled with familiar trees and shrubbery from childhood, and Eichi sighs with each memory, swinging his feet from the small wooden porch that led the inside of the temple to this little place outside, one of their secret hideouts from youth. Keito sits behind him, staring only at his childhood friend, though he’s well aware of the bucket holding a pack of handheld fireworks that sits next to the candle Eichi had lit just before.

Eichi lets the light summer breeze brush through his hair, closes his eyes and takes all of the atmosphere in before opening them again. “Summer vacation is coming to a close, Keito.”

“I know, Eichi.”

“Soon it’ll be the next term.” He pauses, propelling himself from the casual position he was in to reach for the pack of fireworks, opening it up and handing one to Keito. He takes one out for himself and hovers it over the fire for a second, eyes twinkling when sparks begin to fly. “Fufu, are you ready for that workload, too? If anything, you should really ease up on the student council work — there’s Tori, Yuzuru, and Isara-kun, yes, but there’s also me, you know? You were the one who pushed me to become the ‘student council president’, after all — it feels pretty pathetic if I don’t do any work at all with this title. Let me at least handle some paperwork, and I’ll be satisfied.”

“Hmph, satisfied — it’ll only be temporary, and after a while you’ll start begging for more work. You’re incorrigible, Eichi, did you know that? Saying this but soon asking for something else…such selfish behavior unbefitting of the Tenshouin heir. I should really try and hammer some manners into that body of yours.”

Keito shakes his head as he lights his own firework. Such a thing like this — they hadn’t done something like this since they were children, youthful and ignorant and reaching for far-out places and far-out dreams. They’d laugh, they’d talk, they’d talk in stories of many different topics to entertain themselves as their fireworks fizzled and burnt out.

The summer of their third year was truly eventful, the memories of that B1 ‘Quarrel Festival’ still fresh in their minds as the time for summer festivals came and went, the heart-pounding thrill and amusement of that childish fighting rushing back in a single sweep of yet another one of summer’s breezes.

To have open seams, but also each other — their hearts had finally reached each other, and while playful banter was still commonplace, the flower that had been growing within them had blossomed into understanding and fulfillment, like the strife and quarrels they’d inflicted upon themselves had finally built a bridge into getting to know the other childhood friend better, that the mountains they had to climb had led to eventual victory, justice, to the dreams they had voiced as children.

This was not an ‘inseparable relationship’ anymore — rather, it was a ‘friendship’, and even deeper, in the depths of their hearts, a feeling dyed in fluttering red, manifesting for years, had finally been noticed.

They go through two or three more fireworks in silence, admiring the sparks — although those two talked a mouthful, there were moments when this peace, this silence, this tranquility was what triumphed in their day to day lives, the mere presence of the other just as reassuring as a teasing jab or a strict remark. The silence, they both knew, was because of those voices they heard in their heads, those moments from years and years ago flashing by in fits of nostalgia. There were no words to describe — they knew how those memories felt in their hearts.

“Keito.” The boy glances over at Eichi, who holds a firework in front of him, surrounding his grin with some sort of heavenly light. “Let’s start this new term together, shall we?”

“I have no choice, do I?” He’s swept by the moment, the smile, the cicadas that cry out in the distance, the lethargic, nostalgic, bittersweet, uplifting winds of the summer season — he smiles slowly, the gesture of happiness small yet certain. “If I say no, you’ll just pester me about it until I say yes. It’ll get tiring having to put up with that, you know, and I know for a fact that you won’t listen to my objections. You never have…you’ve always been a stubborn one, Eichi. But for this instance…I’ll let it slide. Don’t think you’ll get special treatment like this anytime soon, though, or ever again — I won’t spoil you anymore.”

“Ah, wait, before you say that — indulge me one more time, Keito.”

One of Keito’s eyebrows go up, questioning him — he thought that Eichi’s previous statement had been all that he had to say. In some way, he’s quite scared, but curious, too — he reminds himself that he — the both of them, actually — had sworn an unspoken oath of comprehension, of openness since that day, no matter how small or big they start out on such premises. “Well? Spit it out.”

“When I said ‘together’…that was actually a confession.”

Keito’s firework burns out seconds after Eichi’s, and the blonde discards it into the bucket, his hand now reaching for Keito’s, which hangs with the limp firework still in his grasp. He lets go of it once Eichi’s warmth (his touch was warm, he noted, despite the cold and his condition) registers in his brain, that _Eichi was holding Keito’s hand_.

“Eichi — ”

The light now comes from the candle that was slowly reaching the end of its life, yet the moon and fireflies continue to cast their light so that Eichi’s own face could not be obscured by the night’s black facade.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, you know, telling you how I really felt. It’d been inside for so long, but after this summer, after that ‘fight’ we had…I felt I could finally tell you, you know, this feeling that’s always been inside me. You’ve always been the ‘angel of death’ to me, but…even in such a dark of a shadow as that, you still showed me a bright light to hang on to despite the reality of this world, despite the reality of this frail body of mine. I understand if my wavering mortality isn’t something you want to deal with — it’s the same for me, too, and you’ve already given so much of your life to me. But even though you scold me for being selfish, here I am again, asking something from you — asking that you stay by my side from now on, not as a friend, but as a lover instead.”

He pauses, and though he planned for most points, that tangent had also been improvised with whatever his heart desired. He let himself ramble like that, he let himself spill like that, because it was Keito, and he no longer had anything holding him back from revealing the depths of his heart, because he knew Keito had long since arrived there after many trials.

“I love you, Keito.”

Keito takes his hand, holds onto it firmly as stern yet caring eyes glare back at Eichi — and the blonde could say he’d arrived at Keito’s heart, too, that fate had finally reached its final destination this one summer night.

“There’s really no one else but me that can deal with you, huh.”

“Haha, that’s one way to put it, isn’t it?”

“I’ll keep nagging you even more, you know. I’ll have the urge to lecture you more. I want you to rest at ease, Eichi. I want you to stop thinking about dying, and to start thinking about living, because there’ll be a future for you — I’ll make sure of that.”

“I know you will, but it’d even better if you were in it, too.”

“Idiot, I’ve _always_ been there. From the very beginning, from when we met, our futures have been intertwined — that’s why I want you to live as long as you can, so that we can experience it together.”

“Wha’s your answer, then?”

There was a slight blush that dusted Keito’s cheeks, and Eichi laughs.

“Eichi, I love you, too.”


End file.
